Chip Kelly and UCLA announce the return in dominant victory over LSU No. 16

PASADENA, California. – Under his visor, Chip Kelly watched as the team warmed up all the way.

They were big and fast. They were tall and fast. They looked like the teams he sees playing on Sundays.

“You’re like‘ Holy smoke! It’s a beautiful team! ”Says Kelly.

On Saturday night, LSU brought its five-star talent to the Rose Bowl. He brought its 20,000 fans. He brought his coaches to a high price, his national championship pedigree, his SEC power, his 16th ranking.

And then he left, finished out of the stadium by the UCLA Bruins in a 38-27 clash that will surely rip the heat from Ed Orgeron’s seat and push Kelly’s club into the national spotlight.

Chip is back, at least for one night. He has once again successfully outscored opposing coaches, won games, maybe he shouldn’t, swapped comfortably with journalists.

Gary A. Vasquez / USA TODAY Sports

There is a new type of magician in Westwood. This one wears a visor, is sometimes brutally honest and maybe finally has a good football team.

But don’t tell him that. No, no, don’t.

“It doesn’t mean Monday,” he says.

This is a game, a week. Remember last season, when Mike Leach and Mississippi State opened the year by beating that same LSU team in Baton Rouge? Do you remember, question?

“I watched the match and it was like‘ Holy smokes! “Look at the state of Mississippi, they just finished with the national champions,” he says. “I looked at it. They lost their next four games.

Kelly also acknowledges, unhurriedly, that this was not a “typical” LSU opener. They say they have experienced many things, evacuating Houston from Hurricane Ida earlier this week.

But that doesn’t change anything about how this result transcended, in a completely shocking way. UCLA dominated a SEC power in an area where it normally excels, on the battle line. Look no further than running yards: LSU 48, UCLA 215.

It was a bit appropriate. As they walked into the stadium, the television cameras captured Orgeron playfully playing a UCLA fan as a “sissy” and proposing that he enter the stadium to fight.

Hours later, it was Orgeron’s team that was knocked down.

It was the Pac-12 team that wore down the SEC. The Pac-12 team created wide lanes for their backs and chased the opposing quarterback. The Pac-12 team burned the clock and eliminated the game. It produced explosive play against bursting roofs (at least four finishes of at least 35 yards). He had two running backs that broke the 90-yard mark and the Pac-12 team propelled the SEC team ahead.

“We never talked about it,” Kelly says. “It wasn’t the Pac-12 against the SEC, because they didn’t carry Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama. Fortunately, my God ”.

Orgeron then acknowledged that his team was outscored at the point of attack. What about an LSU team fighting UCLA to run the ball, stop the run and protect their quarterback? The Tigers have games this season against Florida, Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M.

It seems like the end is inevitable: a second consecutive season and a coach whose strap, despite winning the 2019 national championship, is short (they don’t make long straps at Baton Rouge for their football coaches).

“A game doesn’t define a season,” Orgeron said afterwards, “but we understand it was a disappointment for our fans and I take responsibility for it.”

And, boy, his school brought fans. Many of them. His alcohol-fueled backstage scene spilled over into the Rose Bowl, painting almost half of the stadium purple and gold, a Mardi Gras off the West Coast in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains.

In fact, a LSU fan section drank a beer vendor (don’t worry, they finally stocked up again!).

It’s good too. They had to make jumps for such an acidic outing. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the songs of “Ov-Er-Ra-Ted” began to be heard outside the stadium. And a few minutes later, blue and gold confetti rained in the field. Fireworks exploded in the air. And the music came out of the speakers at the field level.

Players made confetti angels and some fans even (illegally) broke into the field. And there was that visor, which was moving and weaving, going through the crowd as it headed toward the exit.

Later, in an interview with I, along a dark path within the bowels of the Rose Bowl, Kelly briefly reviews the program she has built, the paralyzed one she took on in 2018, when she only had 57 fellows in total.

It took four years to hire UCLA to reach the normal number of 85 fellows. This group has maturity, he says. He has experience. And he has talent, too, not everything since high school.

The Bruins have worked the transfer portal, adding key pieces like Michigan running back Zach Charbonnet (Saturday, 11 117-yard gates) to go with longtime Bruins, like Greg Dulcich (three 117-yard catches).

Everything is coming together, Kelly’s masterpiece is transformed into a beautiful shape after 10 combined victories during his first three years and five consecutive lost seasons dating back to his professional days.

“I never had my doubts,” Kelly jokes.

Did you think it was over? Did you think the man who brought electricity to the offensive game, who brought Oregon to a national title game, did you think he had lost it?

.Source

Share this:

Related